Meet Ashish, the 2nd man in stalking case
The mother of Ashish Kumar Olla, 27, co-accused in the Chandigarh stalking case, is not aware that her son has been arrested twice by the police in the last week. She has been told that he has gone on a holiday and will be back soon.
Ashish was on the passenger seat last Friday night when he and his friend Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, allegedly stalked DJ Varnika Kundu. While the case has made headlines, Ashish, who allegedly got off the vehicle twice and sought to open Varnika’s car door forcibly, has not received as much attention as Vikas has.
He comes from a farming background in Bhiwani’s Barsi Jattan village, 250km from Chandigarh. After his father’s death around three years ago, his mother was diagnosed with epilepsy and hysteria. “She will not be able to withstand her son’s arrest,” said Manmohan Olla, 45, Ashish’s cousin, who lives next to their house in the village.
Villagers said Ashish recently lost a lot of money in the stock market and had to sell a major portion of the family land, leaving them with around five acres. A law graduate from a college in Hisar, Ashish was looking for a job and had taken several exams.
“It was in the law college that he became friends with Vikas. That night, he had called me a few hours before the incident,” said Manmohan. “He told me Vikas was taking him out to see Chandigarh, he wanted to live there like Vikas. A day later, we saw in the newspaper they have been arrested. I spoke to him and told me they have got bail, but was worried they’ll be arrested again due to the protests.”
Aashish’s family has not engaged any lawyer. Asked what if the politician’s family puts the blame on him, Manmohan said they trust Vikas and his family.
“Let the law take its course. If they have done wrong, they should be adequately punished. But we don’t want things blown out of proportion. Opposition parties are attacking the BJP as they don’t have any other issue.”
Soon after the arrest of Vikas Barala (23), the son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, and his friend Ashish Kumar over charges of stalking and attempt to kidnap , complainant Varnika Kundu told HT that her faith in the system has somewhat restored.
Watching her father, a senior IAS officer, give a TV interview at their home in Panchkula, Varnika’s expression changed as she received news about the two accused being arrested. “My faith in the system has been somewhat restored, which was shaken after hearing about the medical report,” she said.
She added that there was a lot more to look at since this was now not just her own fight alone, but a “fight for all the women out there against all the Vikas Baralas in the country”.
Her father, VS Kundu, however, doesn’t want to jump to any conclusions. He said, “The arrest doesn’t mean anything at this point. We have to reach to the logical conclusion of the case.”
Later, to a TV channel, he said, “When we were sitting in the police station on the morning of August 5, from 1 am to 5 am, twice the investigating officer asked us if we would like to have tea or something, but nobody served us even a glass of water.”
Varnika and her family, earlier in the day morning, had expressed surprise and dismay over the failure of police investigators to conduct medical examination of the two accused, who were found drunk while chasing and harassing the 29-year-old professional DJ on Friday night.
“I am very disappointed. This is definitely going to change things,” Varnika had told HT.
The 29-year-old who was allegedly stalked and harassed by the BJP leader’s son, had said her family may review the case in light of what appears to be the police’s failure in pressuring the accused to undergo a medical examination that could have helped strengthen their case.